Provincial level and Local roads comprise nearly 50% of the road network in mileage in Sri Lanka. They play a pivotal role in providing access to the local communities especially in rural areas and an essential component of the economic development of those areas. These roads are under the purview of Local Councils and Provincial Road Development Authorities. Most of these roads do not conform to the design guidelines as they were often developed from local foot paths or gravel roads. Therefore, the travel speeds are very low and safety issues have arisen with the increase in travel demand and the use of motorized vehicles. Therefore, there is need to upgrade these roads to the appropriate design standards to ensure safe and efficient mobility to the road users. However, the road agencies have limited funding to implement upgrading projects on the entire network. Thus, it is pertinent that there is a methodology to prioritize the roads based on the current operational performance so that the funding allocation can be done in the most effective manner. Road upgrading in the context of the study is focused on roadway improvements such as alignment, road width, shoulder etc. In addition to the limited funding, the agencies also lack the technical capacity to carryout detailed investigation and surveys on highway performance that are typically carried out in other road agencies at national level. Therefore, the study proposes a simplified methodology to evaluate the performance index of the road based on its roadway and operational characteristics, to be used to assess road network condition and identify upgrading needs for a highway agency of a low volume road network. Index Terms-Highway performance index, provincial roads, developing country, level of service. II. EVALUATION OF HIGHWAY FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE Highway performance relates to the structural and functional performance of the road. Functional performance is represented by the mobility, rider comfort and safety. These are predominately affected by the roadway characteristics such as alignment, gradient, curvature, road width, shoulder condition, surface condition; and operating characteristics such as traffic volume, heavy vehicle composition, presence of non-motorized traffic etc. Most studies represent highway functional performance via level of service which mainly addresses the mobility aspect of the road.
Traffi c data are the fundamental inputs to traffi c fl ow analysis and simulation studies, which facilitate decision making in the fi eld of traffi c engineering. Hence, the accuracy of traffi c data is of paramount importance. This study compares new technologies available for traffi c data collection considering their accuracy and applicability in the Sri Lankan context. Traffi c in Sri Lanka is of heterogeneous nature, as opposed to the homogeneous nature observed in most developed countries. Hence, collection of traffi c data poses several challenges that aff ects its accuracy. Three techniques, the infrared driven TIRTL instrument, the video image processing-based TRAZER application and the traffi c data collection method using the Google distance matrix application programming interface (API), with respect to their data collection accuracy are reviewed in this study. The fundamental macroscopic traffi c data variables (fl ow and speed) were evaluated against control surveys. It was found that each technology has its strengths and weaknesses and needs to be used appropriately. The TIRTL instrument fared better on road sections on level terrain when the crossfall did not obstruct the infrared beams. Such occasions provided a rich set of microscopic traffi c data. The TRAZER software delivered data up to a 100 % accuracy. However, this required the user to go through a lengthy postprocessing routine to extract the fi nal set of traffi c data. Google traffi c data collection provides highly accurate results when estimating link speeds. This method is ideal for collection of bulk data with spatio-temporal variations and the process can be fully automated to reduce the human resource requirement.
Urban commercial developments are an integral part of the urban land use which affect the trip generation and attraction pattern in the city. More importantly, these developments increase the demand for parking, which by law should be provided within the development. Lack of adequate parking facilities will impact the road network as it will lead to onstreet parking and additional vehicular circulation to and from public car parking areas. Furthermore, provision of parking within the premises results in an increase in the cost to the developer which can escalate the prices of the property. Therefore, regulations need to ensure that adequate number of parking are stipulated based on the type of facility. Parking regulations for office building type developments used for the city of Colombo are based on gross floor area of the building, which may not necessarily represent the parking needs of the building depending on the type of operation which takes place. Therefore, the existing parking regulations for these types of development need to be revised in order to assess the optimal parking requirement for different types of office buildings. The research aims to evaluate the trip generation patterns for different types of office developments. Based on the study results parking demand and trip attraction rate will be assessed..
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